related pages

Community self build

self build houses in the Field of Dreams at the Findhorn FoundationThe Findhorn Foundation is a large community near Inverness. There is a strong emphasis on sustainable building.

There is a resurgence of community self build projects at the moment (also known as community custom build), most of which have a strong green flavour. These range from established communities such as the Findhorn Foundation with large development plans in the offing through cohousing developments such as Lancaster Cohousing Group, LILAC cohousing in Leeds to self build groups such Ashley Vale in Bristol

A whole raft of other schemes are at or near the planning stage. see –

Building and Social Housing Foundation with their mission statement: BSHF is an independent not-for-profit organisation working around the world. We encourage better housing for people with few housing choices by identifying and promoting great practice in housing, bringing people together to transfer solutions and ideas, and facilitating programmes leading to positive change.

Advantages

community wood chip boiler at Lancaster Cohousing

Community self build can have a number of strong ecological advantages over the traditional norms for house building. These range from the obvious energy saving reasons through to more esoteric aspects. They can include –

sharing communal facilities such as

shared heating systems and CHPCombined heat and power - where the heat which is produced when electricity is generated is used within a heating system rather than wasted. This can happen at different levels - within a single house, a housing development, a town etc.
.

not everyone is totally enamoured of the British obsession with owning their own home. Many people would prefer to have control of their own house but not necessarily be burdened with a 20 year mortgage. After all, most countries in Europe are not so dependent on the ownership model.

many people see the home ownership / nuclear family model as being a bit stuck in the 20th C. and would like a bit more fluidity in their lives.

some people would like to make a political break from the capitalist model of housing finance we have now and be part of a more collective enterprise

the deepening entrenchment of the class system in the UK is leading to a division of the way people relate to each other around neighbourhoods and housing

many younger people are more mobile and are less keen to be totally sucked in to the long term ownership model

older people would often like to be closer to their families and community

there are many particular interest groups where people want to live close to each other

Government stimulus

There are several initiatives now in place which may favour community self build:

Community Right to Build. New measures to help with planning permissionthe legal basis for being allowed to do some form of development such as building a house. (not to be confused with Building RegulationsThese are the mass of regulations that cover safety, health, welfare, convenience, energy efficiency etc. in the way buildings are constructed. Not to be confused with Planning consent (which is more to do with whether you can put up the building in the first place). See more on the regulations which are all about whether the building is properly constructed). see more on Planningthe legal basis for being allowed to do some form of development such as building a house. (not to be confused with Building Regulations which is all about whether the building is properly constructed). see more on Planning “The new powers give communities the freedom to build new homes, shops, businesses or facilities where they want them, without going through the normal planning application process.” see more.

Community Land Trusts “Currently, community groups in England (outside London) can apply for funding to help them to formally establish themselves, prepare their development proposals and submit a Community Right to Build Order under the Localism Act 2011. see more

There is also a strong government stimulus in the form of the new housing strategy, Laying the Foundations. Local authorities are now supposed to actively assess the likely needs of local self build groups, identify potential building plots which are under their control and help make them available.

Am looking to put together a register of people interested in self-build/co-housing in Ely. Am the CLT manager for the East of England and would be happy to help a group get started. debbie@clteast.org

Hello,i would be very interested in joining a self-build project/scheme in the Cambs/Ely area or if anyone has information that may help??.Would also be keen to join any schemes which are currently running and have openings for additional members.

I have been following developments on your website since I found you and I have moved one big step ahead since that day.
Groups are sprouting up in the country and the idea of intentional communities is gaining ground.
However, because many tend to be concerned with commandable ecological and environmental issues as their main focus I have not found what I have been looking for and have decided to “create it” : a hamlet where likeminded people are perenial students.
Because at an incipient stage, all possibilities are considered, refurbishing or new built.

http://www.learning-as-a-hobby.com is the website and it is the 1st step of a modest attempt at gathering likeminded people together and because your website offers a list of project , I would be most grateful if you could help in “all” the essential directions by :

publishing the short advert (below in italic) in the appropriate section
allowing me to quote excerpts of your website (with acknowledgements of source)
allowing me to introduce links to your website´s relevant pages ( advice : admin/ legal/financial etc..)
suggesting any form of help

I would of course also very much appreciate any ” more personal” advice and positive criticism .
Many grateful thanks – I look forward to your reply and wish you continued success.
Cordialement
Avionna

I’d also like to find out about more recent community self build projects. We are in Brighton area although not exclusively tied to staying here. My partner is a groundworker/builder with 16 years experience so maybe we could share helpful information?

Can you point me in the direction of more recent successful community self build schemes.
Am trying to do my bit down here in property expensive Devon but everyone I speak to about community self build has a negative comment about it (maybe out of self interest or perhaps based on schemes 30 years ago which were of dubious and variable quality)
Hope you can help.